ConocoPhillips Alaska has applied for permits to drill exploration wells south of Barrow beginning this winter on Arctic Slope Regional Corp. land just south of the Walakpa gas field.
The company said one or more of three proposed Intrepid wells will be drilled during the winter drilling seasons between January 2007 and June 2011, using the Kuukpik No. 5 drilling rig.
The winter route to the well sites would include approximately 30 miles of ice road. “If constructed, the ice road system will begin from the nearest gravel road system south of Barrow and continue south to the Intrepid exploration well locations,” the company said.
The proposed Intrepid well sites are on oil and gas leases co-owned by ConocoPhillips Alaska, Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska and Anadarko Petroleum; ConocoPhillips will operate the wells.
The objective is not given, but presumably it is gas.
Barrow has had a supply of natural gas from the South Barrow field since 1958; the East Barrow field came online in 1981; Walakpa was developed in the 1990s.
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission records show one current producing completion at the South Barrow gas field, with August production of 4.7 million cubic feet and nine producing completions at the Walakpa field, with August production at 77.8 million cubic feet.
Production from the South Barrow field peaked in 1980 at 1.027 billion cubic feet per year; the East Barrow field peaked at 583 million cubic feet a year in 1991; and Walakpa peaked at 1.352 bcf per year in 2000, according to Alaska Division of Oil and Gas records.
Combined production from the fields in 2005 was 1.388 bcf. The division estimates remaining gas reserves of 5 bcf at East Barrow, 4 bcf at South Barrow and 25 bcf at Walakpa, a total of 34 bcf.
